Standard Bank and Absa have warned the public about two new scams.
Standard Bank uncovered a cyber-crime syndicate that stole consumers' personal details, such as their personal identification numbers (PINs) and card numbers, in order to defraud them. About 80 percent of the victims were South African bank accountholders and the remainder were tourists.
Herman Singh, the director of technology engineering at Standard Bank's information technology security department, says the thefts were perpetrated at internet cafés and other public places that offer internet services.
One suspect has been arrested and the police are questioning several others in connection with the thefts, Singh says.
Computer spyware was found attached to 13 public computers in Johannesburg's northern suburbs, Pretoria and Cape Town, and at Johannesburg International Airport, Singh says. Spyware is used to capture online banking customers' personal details.
Standard Bank warns all users of internet banking to only bank from a secure computer on which anti-virus and firewall software has been installed. Clients should protect the secrecy of their PINs and passwords as they would protect their secret codes to their home alarm systems, Singh says.
If you have reason to believe that your personal details have been compromised, you should contact the Standard Bank call centre on 0860 123 000, and you must also change your online password.
Standard Banks urges its clients to use the following security features when banking online:
- One-time password. A unique and time-sensitive password is sent to a client by email or SMS and is valid for only one internet banking session.
- MyNotification. An email or SMS service that informs clients when certain activities and transactions have been performed on their internet account. The notice is sent to clients if: someone logs on to their account; their personal information is changed; a beneficiary is added to their account; an existing beneficiary's details are amended; and a once-off payment is made from their account.
- Payment confirmation. The payer and the payee are notified that money has been transferred successfully.
u McAfee anti-virus software. Standard Bank offers the McAfee range of security products, including anti-virus and firewall software, free of charge to its 50 000 online banking customers.
Card-skimming at the ATM
Meanwhile, Absa has warned about a scam in which criminals use a hand-held device to skim people's ATM cards.
Usually two or three criminals will approach a client who is using an ATM after the client has inserted his or her card into the machine and has entered his or her PIN.
One of the criminals will have observed the PIN over the client's shoulder. Then the criminals will cause a commotion to distract the client and will press the "cancel" button on the ATM. While one or two criminals keep the client busy, the other criminal removes the card from ATM's card- reader slot and swipes it through a hand-held card-skimming device. These devices are very small and can be hidden in the palm of a hand.
The criminal then re-inserts the card into the ATM or gives it back to the client, and the gang walks away.
Venete Klein, Absa Group's executive director of retail delivery, says the criminals use the information obtained by skimming the client's card to manufacture a duplicate ATM card and to steal from the client's account.
If you are affected by this scam, you should immediately change your PIN at the ATM as this will make it unnecessary for you to stop your card.
Should you no longer have your orig-inal ATM card, you should telephone your bank and ask it to stop all further transactions on your card.